Saturday, April 28, 2012
Thoughtful centrists send out a wake-up call to America and the press

There are those who pose as centrists observers to our political system - people like Tom Friedman and organizations like Americans Elect. And then there are the real thing - people like Norm Ornstein (with the American Enterprise Institute) and Thomas Mann (with the Brookings Institute). Yesterday, the later two wrote a column for the Washington Post that sent out a wake-up call to the American people and the press. Its true that nothing they've written is likely to be news to any readers here. The importance of this article is not what they're saying but who is finally saying it. Take a look.

Quote: We have been studying Washington politics and Congress for more than 40 years, and never have we seen them this dysfunctional. In our past writings, we have criticized both parties when we believed it was warranted. Today, however, we have no choice but to acknowledge that the core of the problem lies with the Republican Party.

The GOP has become an insurgent outlier in American politics. It is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

We understand the values of mainstream journalists, including the effort to report both sides of a story. But a balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon distorts reality. If the political dynamics of Washington are unlikely to change anytime soon, at least we should change the way that reality is portrayed to the public.

when it took them 3+ years to notice what the hell is going on (actually, it's not unfair to revise that to 11+ years, but I'll be generous). I can coexist with centrists, but I can't abide willful myopia.

RE: Thoughtful centrists send out a wake-up call to America and the press

(04-28-2012 10:59 AM)JeffR Wrote: when it took them 3+ years to notice what the hell is going on (actually, it's not unfair to revise that to 11+ years, but I'll be generous). I can coexist with centrists, but I can't abide willful myopia.

It has been 11+ years and the myopia has kept it going. I figure when it's so bad, so blatant, that the centrists are speaking out....it's really not under the radar anymore to the GOP supporters either. It has come to the point where denying the problem makes them all look like fools.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil
is for good men to do nothing. ~Burke

partially responsible for allowing this to happen. They stood on the sidelines or were pushed to the sidelines while the Boehners and TeaPartiers took over the Republican party. They stood by and watched the media and applauded as the false equivelance meme was pushed for the last 30 years.....Now they see it has gone to far....

Well I suppose better late then never....

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.”

RE: Thoughtful centrists send out a wake-up call to America and the press

It hasn't been both sides since, well since the civil war probably, but at least 1980. It's nice this piece was written, but I don't think farmers and loggers and miners will read it and they're the ones who need to pull their heads out of their ass and shut off Rush Limbaugh.

RE: Thoughtful centrists send out a wake-up call to America and the press

Finally, it's been enshrined in the halls of written commentary. This whole "fair and balanced" thing is a distortion of the mission of the press. When you squeeze your job into the two party paradigm, you ruin it. Real journalists don't go after fair and balanced. They go after the truth, wherever it leads.

RE: Thoughtful centrists send out a wake-up call to America and the press

(04-29-2012 12:27 PM)KonaKane Wrote: Finally, it's been enshrined in the halls of written commentary. This whole "fair and balanced" thing is a distortion of the mission of the press. When you squeeze your job into the two party paradigm, you ruin it. Real journalists don't go after fair and balanced. They go after the truth, wherever it leads.